Art Partnerships Stimulate Syracuse Economy

SYRACUSE, N.Y., Nov. 15, 2009— -- Economic development is usually associated as bringing new jobs to a community, often in the form of new building construction. But from now until January in Syracuse, it is also about art. Local arts and culture organizations are collaborating for the first time in years as the city's Everson Museum of Art hosts "Turner to Cezanne," a traveling exhibit from the National Museum Wales.

So far, the Turner to Cezanne exhibit has been in Columbia, S.C., and Oklahoma City. After Syracuse it will travel to Washington, D.C., and Albuquerque, N.M.

"Anyone can get an exhibition that has really fancy names, but it's how you use that exhibition that's proof of the pudding, and the way we're using the exhibition here is by forging very deep partnerships and collaborative efforts," said Steven Kern, director of the Everson Museum of Art.

Kern reports that tickets are being purchased by people in New York City, Boston, and Philadelphia – a nearly unprecedented reach for the local arts community, and something a single organization would have had trouble doing on its own.

"It's changing the way we do business here in Syracuse, and we're recognizing that it's to the benefit of everybody, including the community that comes away with far more," said Kern.

The exhibit contains 53 masterpieces from the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist periods with works of such famous artists as Cezanne, Monet, van Gogh, Turner, and Pissarro. One of the highlights is Renoir's "La Parisienne," which depicts a woman in an elegant blue dress, standing tall with a cheerful expression on her face. The painting hangs prominently on a wall all to itself. Other familiar works include J.M.W. Turner's "The Storm," and Paul Cezanne's "The Francois Zola Dam."

The gallery is laid out in a typical arrangement: white walls, polished wood floors, and partition displays in the middle of the rooms. It actually is rather ordinary-looking, until you look at the artwork itself. Displayed in elegant frames, the simplicity of the gallery lets the paintings speak for themselves.

The art on display is part of the Davies Collection at the National Museum Wales. While renovations are completed in Wales, the collection is touring America with the help of the American Federation of Arts, a nonprofit that helps initiate and organize art exhibitions. It was the goal of the museum in Wales and the Federation to get this exhibition into the heart of America, which meant bypassing normal venues, such as New York City.